


Reminders

by iamfitzwilliamdarcy



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 16:42:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3903436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamfitzwilliamdarcy/pseuds/iamfitzwilliamdarcy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter has expectations for his siblings; sometimes, he needs a reminder that they’re not him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reminders

“You’re too hard on him.” Peter glanced up from the book he was reading to give Susan a look.

“On who?” he asked. 

“On Edmund,” she said, irritated. “Honestly, Peter, haven’t you been listening?”

He snapped his book shut, loudly, a clear signal that, no, he hadn’t been listening, but he was now, and sat up, leaning forward. “He’s been perfectly beastly since we got here, and you think _I’m_ too hard on him?” 

Susan glared at him, looking so much like their mother that it almost cowed Peter. Almost. “Peter, he’s not dealing with any of this well, and it’s been very hard for him.”

“It’s been very hard for all of us,” Peter protested. “What, we’re not dealing with a war and being away from home and our parents too? 

“Of course it is,” Susan said. “But you expect it to affect him just like it affects you. And it doesn’t. _And_ he’s younger than us; you know it’s harder on young children.”

 Peter didn’t point out that Edmund was only two years younger than Susan; she got like that sometimes, acting as though she were much older than both Edmund and Lucy. But he did say, “Lucy hasn’t been angry and mean, though.”

“Lucy’s more like you,” Susan said, patiently. “Edmund isn’t.”

“Sometimes people are just mean, Susan,” Peter said.

“And sometimes they just need compassion,” Susan said, and Peter was sure she must be quoting one of her teachers, the one she kept mentioning when trying to encourage them when they found out they’d be leaving and on the train ride to the country. Mrs. Simpson or something along those lines.

 “Easy for you to say, you don’t have to share a room with him,” Peter said.

 Susan gave him another look, and Peter was mildly impressed with how she’d managed to pick those up so early in life; he’d been under the impression they were mostly a mother-thing. Of course, Susan often liked to act like she was their mother. “Well at least try,” she said, standing up to leave.

 When Peter didn’t answer she said, “Peter!”

 “Fine, fine,” Peter said. “I’ll try. I promise I will.”

 He fully intended on keeping that promise, too, but then came Narnia, and he forgot, for a while; it wasn’t until he saw Edmund again and had sent him off to get some sleep that he remembered, and it was with Susan’s words in his head that he called after his brother, offered a joke and a smile, an attempt at forgiveness, a peace offering, to soften his harsh words. He was surprised when Edmund smiled back at him and thought that maybe he should listen to Susan more often.

 ************

 

“Hey Pete?” Edmund was leaning against the doorway. He’d come home from playing rugby in the park with a few friends and was still sweaty and smudged with dirt. “Row with Susan?”

Peter winced. “You heard that?” 

“The whole neighborhood heard that,” Edmund said, but he smiled even as Peter dropped his head into his hands with a groan.

“Buck up, Peter, it’s not so bad as that,” Edmund said. “I was teasing and you know it.” 

“Still, it’s unbecoming of me,” Peter said.

Edmund flopped onto his bed, and Peter wrinkled his nose. He opened his mouth to inquire as to whether Edmund planned to clean his sheets before bedtime or not, but Edmund asked “Narnia?” before he could, and Peter just nodded. 

“Well don’t be too hard on yourself,” Edmund said. “And maybe take it a bit easier on her too. Losing Narnia has been hard for her.”

“That doesn’t give her the right to--,” Peter started, hotly. 

“I know,” Edmund interrupted. “But she’s handling it differently than the rest of us. Maybe she just needs some patience. Aren’t you the one always saying we should be patient and compassionate?”

“You’re one to talk,” Peter said, and Edmund gave him a look that reminded him so strongly of Susan that Peter was taken back to the time all those years ago when it was Susan who’d come to him about Edmund. “You’re right, you’re right,” he added hastily. “Of course, you’re right. I just forgot myself.”

 “Of course I am,” Edmund said, drowsily. He flung an arm over his eyes, where the sunlight was shining on him. “You just need reminding sometimes.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Thank you for your sage wisdom, Sleeping Beauty,” he said, but Edmund was already dozing.

Peter meant it though and remembered Edmund’s advice whenever he talked with Susan. Their relationship was still shaky, but it made it easier, more civil. And he could remind Edmund of that advice when his little brother blustered in after an argument with Susan.

And it was with Edmund’s words in mind that Peter visited Susan one last time, before he and Edmund went to join the Friends of Narnia at the train station. He invited her one last time, and bore her refusal with grace, offering her a smile and a peck on the cheek.

“We’ll see you soon, then, Su,” he said, leaving her behind, sure that, one day, soon, she might come back to them.


End file.
